Miss Tam Chiak’s Brand New Look

7 months. After 7 months of hard work, here I present to you my new website design. It really wasn’t easy. To start with zero idea and now a finishing product. When I met the designers in May, the only thing I told them was, “I want a complete change.” Just like whenever I go to a salon, I will tell the hairstylist the same thing.

But change to what? What kind of design? What do you exactly want? I don’t know. So I figured along the way. This was the very first draft the designers come up with. I edited and edited and edited the design, but it wasn’t something I really like. Plus it looks kind of similar to the previous layout. So I wrote a long email and rejected this design (sorry designers!). See the drastic difference from what you see now.

So what are the changes?

1. Bye Bye columns!

My aim is simple: Forget about seeing my face, forget about the ads on the side bar, I just want you to FOCUS on reading my blog post.

I didn’t want to make it too commercialized (I know that would mean losing an income) but I just love blogging and want you to just focus your attention on the blog post instead of the distraction at the columns. So I made up my mind to only have this one column.

2. Featured Image (NEW!)

By only having one column, I hope they do more justice to my photos. Some of them are still not up to the standard, but I will keep on trying and hope I can take better photos to entice you.

This is a totally new feature in the blog, I have to manually upload the images. I have 5 years of blog posts to do, so if you were to read last year’s blog, you may not see any photos yet. Sorry about it, I am trying my best to do it quickly.

3. Bye bye blogger

My website was previously hosted by blogger and now I decided to give wordpress a chance. I did try to start up a wordpress blog the previous round but I failed. And this time, I cannot fail because I have officially “jumped ship”. So please give me some time to get use to the new platform.

Because blogger doesn’t use the paragraphing code like wordpress, the paragraphs for all the older post are gone. Please give me some time to fix it. And if you realize, the links are no longer valid. HAIZ. So if you have bookmarked something previously, sorry you have to do it again.

4. Truncated blog posts

I know this is either you like it or you hate it. I even ask on twitter if you prefer to have a “read more” button in the blog. Response to this were drastic. Half of the people replied said yes, while the other half said no. I can understand, because before I did this layout, my answer is also no.

When the designer came up with 2 options, one showing “read more” while the other showing full post, I was in a serious dilemma. I showed it to many of my friends to ask for 2nd opinion. And this gets me more confused. But a friend knocked my head and told me, “It’s your blog! Put what you like and not what others like!” I cannot please everyone in the world, because every one has their own preferences. Sometimes, I already find it hard to please myself. So I went with the truncated blog posts. Reason is simple: It looks neater.

Some of you may have difficulties viewing the website yesterday. I deeply apologise for that. As you can see, I am still doing the finishing touches so please bear with me for a while. If you spot any problems, please feel free to drop me a mail.

The design has been changed for a million times. Once I see something I don’t like, I will bug the designers. So thank you Ripplewerkz, especially Choi Yee and Lionel, for being so understanding. But I really hope you welcome the change and continue reading the blog. It has got lotsa hard work put into it. Although it is a new layout, there are some things which will never change. That is, my love for blogging.

Cheers!

Maureen

Born into a family of enthusiastic foodies, Maureen has always loved all things culinary, especially the local cuisine here in Singapore. With a life-long fascination with the rapidly evolving food scene in Singapore, she started this website in 2007 to explore and celebrate all types of local Singapore dishes and to share her love of travel and food with the world. With 4 years of experience as a journalist and producer, she has a wealth of experience in food writing, photography and styling.

Wow, I got a shock when I loaded it today! haha. It looks good, MTC! (Hope you don’t mind I used an acronym for your name!). Gotta love your dedication to and love for blogging. Looking forward to seeing your posts more and more =) Have a nice day!

Hi – I enjoy reading your blog. My two cents on the latest redesign…the images are set up too big and it’s difficult to get a quick glance of what’s in your blog. I tested with browsers (Safari, Chrome and IE) on both mac and pc; when I go to your site, the entire screen is filled with your top banner and image for your current post; can’t even see the title of your post. Thanks.

You made the right choice babe, truncated blog posts are so much neater and requires little initial loading esp on mobile/ipad. Im relatively new to your blog and i like that youre so experimental with your tastebuds! Very cute bentos too…… Keep eating (and blogging!) 😀

Hi there, I chanced upon your website while googling for something and I must say, I’m very impressed and hooked! I think I was first impressed by your unconventional blog layout! This must be one of the nicest layouts around and totally does justice to your beautiful food photography! I also like the variety of your posts and how you seem to be able to seek out hidden gems instead of just the big names and common places. And yes your bentos are one of the cutest and most professional looking ones I’ve seen! Last but not least, I’m blown over by your dedication – one post a day, sustained over 5 years and counting, plus all the time and money put into making this blog such a nice one! Keep up the good work, fellow miss tam chiak! Well done!